Fat yakkish style copy

[tadpole]

I'm looking at doing a very rough Fat Yak style beer, not hoping for an exact clone so as not to disappoint myself. I've come up with a basic recipe, and as I live in the middle of nowhere, I have to keep it pretty simple because I can't just duck down the shop and grab whatever I need. Anyway this is the recipe I'm working off in a 60L fermenter:
2 cans Coopers Pale Ale
2kg LDME
0.5kg Dextrose
400g crystal malt
30g cascade @ 10 min
30g nelson sauvin @ 10 min
30g nelson @ 0 min
30g cascade dry
2 packets US-05
Using a larger fermenter, does that sound about right? I just doubled every ingredient off the recipe I googled. Also, the hops I'll be buying come in 100g packs of hop flowers (off the www.homebru.com.au website). Do I use the same weight of hop flowers as pellets or increase/decrease? The next size packet of pellets I can get are 500g and I don't want to spend too much on this brew as its fairly experimental.
Cheers
Scott

 

[tadpole]

Just discovered the site sponsors have exactly what I need so ignore the flowers/pellets question

 

[droid]

hi, i'd say taste it when your ready to dry-hop and report back with your findings first if you would like feedback on your tasting <edit> and er your subsequent dry-hopping bill

i'd have 120gms minimum cascade on hand for the dry hop - cant comment on nelson

 

[seamad]

Had a Yak recently and was disappointed, previous one was @ 5 years ago so no sure if it was nostalgia or they've changed the recipe, anyway to get on topic..
I find dry hopping rates are better expressed as g/L, and rates are a personal taste thing. The minimum I dry hop at is 1g/L and up to 3g/L. I would never use NS at 3 ( citra I do ) but at 1 it can be OK. You don't mention your batch size but I'd try the cascade at 1g/L. For late kettle hops I also use g/L, then adjust bittering hops to suit. I'd try both 10 minute additions at 1g/L. This will give a late hop profile more like the Yak from my memories though, to be honest I didn't really get much late hop character from the last one.

 

[tadpole]

Ok, cheers guys. I was going to just go a 46L mix just to keep in line with a general coopers can brew. Have purchased 90g of each hop style from the Craftbrewer sponsor so will see if I can create something with what I have coming. Even if it doesn't come off as fat yak I'll be happy with the general idea. And is this actually a partial mash brew? Or kit and kilo with couple extras? Been brewing for a few years but always kept it simple

 

[Droopy Brew]

Mate you will go pretty close with those ingredients.

Give it a go- it should turn out a good Pale Ale with similar hop profile to FY.

 

[tadpole]

Made this one. Really happy with my early taste test. Very hoppy profile. A bit of a slip (actually quite a large slip) while pouring into the fermenter through the sieve means it wasn't filtered very well so its a very soupy looking beer. Going to leave it sit for a bit longer and hopefully it settles. Otherwise I'll just try and turn a blind eye and power through it without looking at it. Getting ready to make another batch soon and take a bit more care in the transfer and hoping to create a beer as visually pleasing as it tastes!

 

[TehCrucible]

Have you bottled yet? You can try using gelatin to help the hop matter settle out. In my (limited) experience, it works really well.

 

[seamad]

There is no need to sieve anything into the fermenter, given time most stuff will drop out and settle , especially if you drop the temp down as close to zero as possible.

 

[tadpole]

Yeah its already bottled. I'll keep that in mind though. How much gelatin do you throw in? And living in Leinster, getting the temp down is near on impossible. Fermenter is too big to get it in my fridge, the best I've found so far is to just wrap it in a wet towel and put a fan on it. But with 40 degree plus temps every day, that dries pretty quick. Most brews are done and fermented within 4 days. Definitely not producing anything near the quality I was getting when I was in Perth and the missus won't let me brew inside in the aircon so I just deal with what I've got. Still beats paying $60+ for a carton at the local bottlo!

 

[Yob]

Can you get hold of any Styrofoam panels? You could make up a chamber and use ice bottles to minimise swings in temps?

Your hangover will thank you for it

 

[mckenry]

Have you bottled yet? You can try using gelatin to help the hop matter settle out. In my (limited) experience, it works really well.

Hey TehCrucible,
Geletin is a fining and only works on yeast. It works better at cold temps, which (the cold temp) also helps the hop and other particulates fall out of suspension. It may appear that it works on hops, but they will fall out eventually anyway over time.
Cold conditioning plus a fining makes a visually pleasing beer and should help with the OP's soup problem.

 

[TehCrucible]

Geletin is a fining and only works on yeast. It works better at cold temps, which (the cold temp) also helps the hop and other particulates fall out of suspension. It may appear that it works on hops, but they will fall out eventually anyway over time.

Cheers for the clarification, you're right. I always cold crash my beers so I suppose I'd never considered the separation between what the gelatin was doing and the other particles falling out of suspension anyway. Good to know.

 

[tadpole]

Can you get hold of any Styrofoam panels? You could make up a chamber and use ice bottles to minimise swings in temps?

Your hangover will thank you for it

I'll have a look around for some. We live in a mining town so surely I'll be able to find some at the tip or at the minesite tip. Lots of wasteage in these places so I'm sure something will pop up. I plan on getting an old fridge and thermostat controller at some stage but saving for a new car so it has to wait. Had a few of these beers this morning after nightshift, it has settled in the bottles well so the first glass is nice and clear though the second glass is a bit murky but a hell of an improvement of the one I had a week ago. Love the strong hoppy flavor!

 

[Pogierob]

Yeah its already bottled. I'll keep that in mind though. How much gelatin do you throw in? And living in Leinster, getting the temp down is near on impossible. Fermenter is too big to get it in my fridge, the best I've found so far is to just wrap it in a wet towel and put a fan on it. But with 40 degree plus temps every day, that dries pretty quick. Most brews are done and fermented within 4 days. Definitely not producing anything near the quality I was getting when I was in Perth and the missus won't let me brew inside in the aircon so I just deal with what I've got. Still beats paying $60+ for a carton at the local bottlo!

looks like time for a new missus.

 

[tadpole]

looks like time for a new missus.

I've applied to my work for a larger house allocation due to her being up the duff so hopefully I get one with enough room to have a corner in the laundry or something. Mind you the temps have dropped to the high teens here this week so hopefully they stay down there for a while and I can have another go at the yak